An organic EL panel including a light emitting layer (a functional layer) containing an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) material between a pair of electrode layers is known. Such an organic EL panel also includes various functional layers such as a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer containing an organic material between the pair of electrode layers. There is a case in which such an organic EL panel is formed on a film-shaped substrate (a substrate having flexibility or a flexible substrate) and is formed in a film shape.
As a method for manufacturing the film-shaped organic EL panel, a method for forming various functional layers by a coating method such as an inkjet coating method and a die coater coating method using a roll-to-roll process is known. Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses a die coater coating method (a slit coat coating method).
A case of forming the light emitting layer of the organic EL panel using the slit coat coating method will be described with reference to FIG. 6. In the slit coat coating method shown in FIG. 6, a film-shaped base material including a substrate and an electrode is conveyed by a roll-to-roll structure including an unwinding roller 10 and a winding roller 13 and conveying rollers 11, 12, 14, and 15 and a coating solution including an organic EL material is coated onto the base material by a slit coat applicator 30X, thereby forming a light emitting layer thin film. At that time, the base material is fixed and stabilized by using a backup roller 15 in order to stabilize an underlying base material.
Fixing and stabilizing an underlying base material by using an adsorption stage instead of the backup roller 15 are also known.